A campaign aimed at saving the NHS in south west Essex millions of pounds continues to remind patients not to waste medication.

The Waste Not, Want Not campaign is tackling the issue of unused prescription medicine which is estimated to waste around £2.5 million locally.

£2.5million could pay for approximately either:

395 hip replacements

230 heart bypass operations

3,125 cataract operations

337 knee replacements or

100 community nurses

Healthcare commissioners NHS Thurrock Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS Basildon and Brentwood CCG joined forces in 2016 for a year-long crusade to help reduce NHS medicine waste.

The campaign will address the different issues patients, GPs, pharmacists, care homes and carers face when trying to make the best use of medicines.

Few patients realise that once they have left a pharmacy with their medicines, even if they never open them, the medicines cannot be recycled or used by anyone else after being returned to the pharmacy and have to be destroyed.

Therefore, people are being asked to check their medicines bag at the pharmacy and only take home what they need.

The CCG's campaign aims to:

Urge patients to check cupboards, only order the medicines they need and not to stockpile

Ask patients, GPs and pharmacists and other professionals involved in prescribing or dispensing to review the use of the medicines

Encourage people to try self-care first, talk to their pharmacist at the first signs of feeling unwell and take more responsibility for their own health

Advise patients to take medicines exactly as prescribed

Discourage the inappropriate use of antibiotics

Remind patients to take their medicines with them when going into hospital

People can follow the campaign on Twitter @BB_CCG or @ThurrockCCG or @Basildonhosp or by searching the hashtags #wastenotwantnot and #medswaste